1.
GV Helicopter comes down to land
0.10

2.
SV Excited school-children cheering
0.11

3.
SV Helicopter door opens, Thorpe and wife get out. He walks across grass, raises arms and is met by Lady Avebury
0.35

4.
GV Crowd following Thorpe
0.42

5.
SV Crowd with Lady Avebury walks through crowds
0.53

6.
GV Crowds running after Thorpe
1.01

7.
SV INT. Liberal supporters with placards around Thorpe and Lady Avebury
1.14

8.
SV Lady Avebury into car and Thorpe stands to farewell crowds
1.39



Initials OS/1849 CS/1900



Script is copyright Reuters Limited. All rights reserved

Background: The leader of Britain's Liberal party, Mr. Jeremy Thorpe, today continued his flying-circus tour of the country by arriving by helicopter in the one-time Liberal stronghold of Orpington, a commuter town some 15 miles south of London.

And Orpington - where the Liberal revival began with a shock by-election victory in 1962 - gave the Liberal leader a pop-star welcome. A crowd of thousands was on hand to greet him when he landed in a field just outside the town and then brought the traffic to a standstill when he walked around the shopping centre.

Mr. Thorpe's campaign style, consisting of high-speed meet-the-people tours by helicopter and hovercraft, has clearly caught the public imagination. According to some opinion polls, he can claim the highest popularity rating of all Britain's political leaders.

And there was special cause for today's celebration in Orpington. For, although the 1962 Liberal winner Mr. Eric Lubbock lost his seat at the 1970 general election and went to the House of Lords as Lord Avebury, his wife, Lady Kina Avebury is the current Liberal candidate in the constituency.

Lady Avebury led the welcome for Mr. Thorpe when he arrived for the tour, which included a visit to Liberal Party campaign offices in the town.